DZRJ-DTV
DZRJ-DTV (digital UHF and virtual channel 29) is an independent television station licensed to Makati City, Philippines. The station is the flagship TV property of Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc., a broadcast company owned by long-time guitarist/musician Ramon "RJ" Jacinto. The station's broadcast facilities are located at the Ventures I Bldg., Makati Ave. cor. Gen. Luna St., Makati City, National Capital Region (Region V); and the transmitter is situated at Brgy. San Roque, Antipolo City, Rizal Province, Southern Luzon (Region VI). DZRJ-DTV began in 1993 as DZRJ-TV. The RJTV network currently airs on test broadcast; and operates daily from 5:00 AM to 2:00 AM of the next day on DTTV, while it carries programming 24 hours a day on cable and satellite TV. Background First Years (1993-2008) Ramon "RJ" Jacinto's TV property began its test broadcast in April 1993 through UHF TV channel 29. The station then launched a month later as RJTV (R'amon '''J'acinto 'T'ele'V'''ision), an independent television channel focusing on music oriented shows, local news, talk shows, and the very first local ''Home TV Shopping program. On July 3, 1995, RJTV went into niche programming and timeless television series, shopping and animation programs for children. At the time, the target market was kids during the day, and baby boomers at night. In 1997, due to the emergence of UHF competitors such as DWAC-TV and DWKC-TV, RJTV went from traditional TV programming to specialized programs such as direct response companies and religious sectors. RJTV recognized the advent of specialized television – niche markets that identify specific needs of certain sectors. In 2003, RJTV experimented with its new programming approach, as it simulcasted its sister FM station RJ 100, which started its new trend called the 'TeleRadyo' concept through RJ's own program RJ Online (now known as RJ Sunday Jam; though it remains to air up to this day). It also became one of the channels who tried to conceptualize its interactive television approach, as it became a text-oriented interactive channel, first airing music videos, combined with the power of SMS messaging. Eventually, it aired programs simulcasted over RBN's radio station DZRJ AM during mornings, shopping programs during afternoons and live entertainment programming during primetime, thus, the station adopted its slogan "Interactive TV Station". '''Affiliation with Solar Entertainment (2008-2018) On January 1, 2008, Solar Entertainment Corporation approached RJTV to blocktime one of the former's television channels to the latter. Months prior to the deal, SkyCable stated that they would offer less "redundant" programming and feature more series that had never been aired in the country before, but reports surfaced that channels operated by Solar were pulled due to a carriage dispute; SkyCable's owner, ABS-CBN Corporation, believed that Solar's lower fees for advertising on its channels were causing ABS-CBN to lose revenue. The new blocktime deal between RJTV, Radio Philippines Network, Southern Broadcasting Network, and Solar is said to be a part of the latter's retaliation to Sky. As a result, DZRJ-TV became a network-affiliated station for the first time in its history. The blocktime deal integrated Solar's 2nd Avenue to RJTV's programming. The said deal, however, closed down the station's Venture I broadcast facility and initially transferred its master control to Solar Entertainment's downlink facility in Antipolo prior to another transfer in 2012 to Solar's current playout facilities at Worldwide Corporate Center in Mandaluyong. On September 9, 2012, the station temporarily ceased broadcasting together with DWVN-TV 45. It was found out that the channel 45 facility was struck by a lightning bolt, and had to shut off both station's transmitters for repair and inspection. The station returned on-air in the morning of November 21. In 2015, DZRJ-TV shut down its former in-house transmitter, and began leasing transmission from the Solar-owned transmitter tower also within Antipolo City, sharing transmission with Solar's subsidiary, Southern Broadcasting Network. Solar provided the upgrade to provide a clearer and better signal reception for SBN and RJTV in both analog and digital signals. Return to independent broadcasting (2018-present) In May 2018, Solar Entertainment launched its own premium digital terrestrial TV service Easy TV. When the service promoted ETC and most of Solar's operated and distributed channels, 2nd Avenue was not included into the lineup. Solar and RJTV later announced their plans for the channel: 2nd Avenue would end all regularly scheduled programming (coinciding the mid-season break of US Television's primetime programming) and terrestrial transmission by June 5, while provincial cable and satellite providers would be provided with a lifeline service until June 30 featuring marathons of the channel's former inventory; after June 5, RJTV's affiliation deal with Solar would expire and would return to independence. The newly-reformatted RJTV began airing at 12 midnight of June 5, with TV Shop Philippines as its first program to air during the test broadcast, followed by re-run of some of the local programs from RJTV's inventory, including Pinoy Wrestling and RJ's concert specials. RJAM and RJFM's programs were also aired on the new channel. During its initial run, RJDigiTV operated 24/7. Originally scheduled in July 2018, RJTV relaunched on January 3, 2019 with the first 2 subchannels, the main RJTV channel and Oras ng Himala channel, and later, the TeleRadyo channels of their sister radio stations DZRJ-AM and DZRJ-FM. It became the 2nd television station in the Philippines to end its analog transmission and went full-blown on its digital television broadcasts (more than a year after Light TV 33, though it still beams on analog through its provincial UHF stations). Current programming Main article: List of programs broadcast by RJTV Digital television Digital channels DZRJ-TV operates on UHF Channel 29 (563.143 MHz), and is multiplexed thru the following subchannels: DZRJ-DTV2 Jesus is Our Shield Worldwide Ministries began broadcasting its own religious channel, the Oras ng Himala Channel, in mid-2018. The subchannel features previous archived and new episodes of its eponymous religious show. Prior to its standalone channel launch, its shows were formerly part of DWKC-TV's blocktime deal, airing its shows in selected time spots of the day, yet their religious program remains on air on state-run People's Television Network. Planned Subchannels The network plans to accommodate six digital channels that will air local & foreign content to the station. Among those channels are TeleRadyo simulcasts of its radio stations DZRJ-AM and DZRJ-FM.3 Analog-to-digital transition In 2015, Solar Entertainment supplied its DTV channels through the new platform. During its initial test, Solar placed both SBN and RJTV in its DWCP-TV digital signal on channel 22. For unknown reasons, the transmitter's encryption system was activated throughout its run, making two of the station's subchannels receivable only on set-top boxes with this capability. The technical issue was fixed by September 25, 2017. Around the last quarter of 2017, Solar launched a second test transmission signal (on behalf of RJTV) on channel 30, although it remained sharing transmitter facilities with SBN. However, RJTV announced in May 2018 that the station's analog signal would be shut down after 2nd Avenue programming closed down. DZRJ-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 29, at 1:05 am of June 5, 2018. Its subchannels on digital channel 30, including the license, was returned immediately to Solar after the analog shutoff. The shutdown was rumored to be done at midnight of the same day after a short promo of 2nd Avenue's impending closure, but miscommunication on when to pull the plug resulted in the station to be shut off on its regular 1:00 am sign off. Initially, the station would flash cut its digital signal on July 15, 2018 to the former analog channel, but numerous delays in the installation of their digital transmitter postponed the transmission during the 1st quarter of 2019. On January 3, 2019, RJTV finally made a flash cut sequence on its digital signal for post-transition operations, yet technical modifications were made to address audio issues with several integrated TV sets, mobile DTVs, and digital set-top box devices. Currently, DZRJ-DTV started broadcasting digitally with first 3 channels, the main RJTV channel the Oras ng Himala channel, and the TeleRadyo channel of RJFM 100.3 (but it was temporarily discontinued and replaced by TV Shop as a subchannel, soon it will return the RJFM 100.3 in a few months time on an another subchannel), and it should complete the transition with TeleRadyo channel of DZRJ 810 AM, and other subchannels be mentioned here soon, and will be broadcasting soon. RJTV Previous Programs Main article: List of programs previously broadcast by RJTV RJTV stations nationwide Main article: Rajah Broadcasting Network § RBN Stations nationwide See also *''Rajah Broadcasting Network'' *''DZRJ-AM 810 kHz'' *''RJFM 100.3'' References #''^ "Solar joins ABC 5 And RJTV 29". Archived from the original on 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2007-11-23.'' #''^ 2nd Avenue on free TV on RJTV 29 Archived 2008-01-21 at the Wayback Machine'' #''^ "RJTV REVEALS DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION LAUNCH DATE". DTV Pilipinas. June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.'' External links *''Official website'' Category:1993 establishments in the Philippines Category:Television stations in National Capital Region Category:2nd Avenue (television channel) stations Category:Television channels and stations established in 1993 Category:Digital television stations in the Philippines